The space shuttle Endeavor arrived at LAX this past October.
A specially designed transporter slowly carried the shuttle along our streets from the airport to the Science Center.
Often, Endeavor rested along the parade-like route. Lucky for us, the shuttle stopped at a parking lot in a nearby shopping mall.
On that drizzly morning I sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic as people squeezed cars into spots and pedestrians criss-crossed the road. Normally, this shopping center was busy but not like this.
We parked in the first available spot. Jesse rode in the pack. Oscar cruised in his little car. Standing in the lot behind the stores we saw a busy parking lot and nothing else. I followed the flow of people around a corner and across an intersection, moving away from the businesses and towards a tidy neighborhood.
Here the crowds hung together in bunches along a tree lined sidewalk.
Police tape and cones decorated the other side of the street. We glimpsed an ambulance, a firetruck.....
And then the thrilled voice of my preschooler shouted.....
"Mama look a bang bang!!!"
Yes. A bang bang (aka garbage truck) spotted on a non-trash day was something to yell about.
Bystanders giggled beside us.
I pushed us towards a gap in the clusters of folk staring in the direction of the bang bang. Really, staring in awe at the Endeavor parked behind the bang bang.
I squatted next to Oscar and told him to "Look up".
The Endeavor, she was a sight. Monstrous. Big and beautiful, a strange backdrop for this everyday scene.
Sitting at Oscar's level, among the people who skipped a meeting or an errand to catch a glimpse of the shuttle, I felt like a kid. I felt small and excited about seeing something from space!
We stood their with cameras snapping away to witness the majesty; to witness a big dream realized.
All told, the experience lasted twenty minutes. But I am banking that my boys will hold the memory for a lifetime. I know I will.
